MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF FIRE AN ESSAY ' SIR JAMES GEORGE FRAZER OM" F.R.S. F.B.A MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF FIRE MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED LONDON • BOMBAY· CALCUTTA • MADRAS MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO DALLAS • ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LI~IITED TORONTO MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF FIRE AN ESSAY BY SIR JAMES GEORGE FRAZER 0.!1!., F.R.S., F.B.A. FELLOW OF TRINITY COl..l.EGE, CAMBRinGE ME:\IBRE DE L'IN~"tl"t'UT DE FRANCE MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1930 COPYRIGHT PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN llY R. & R, CLARK, LIMITED, EDINBURG!-! PREFACE MYTHOLOGY may perhaps be defined as the philosophy of primitive man. It is his first attempt to answer those general questions concerning the world which have doubtless obtruded themselves on the human mind from the earliest times and will continue to occupY. it to the last. Thus the task which it sets the inquirer is identical with that which at a later stage is taken up by philosophy and at a still later stage by science. Surrounded by mysteries on every hand, we are impelled by an invincible instinct to lift the veil that seems to hide them, in the hope that, once uprolled, it may disclose the grand secret which generation after generation of seekers has sought in vain to discover. It is an endless quest, an endless succes­ sion of systems, mythical, philosophical, scientific, confidently propounded, strenuously defended like fortresses built for eternity, glistening in rainbow radiance for a time; then burst­ ing and vanishing like gossamer threads in the sunbeams or bubbles on a river. So it has been and so it will be ; it is not for the philosopher or the naturalist to cast stones at the glass­ houses of his predecessor the myth-maker. Indeed, one of the greatest of philosophers, Plato himself, was fain to span not a few chasms in his system with bridges built of myth, which, light and airy as they seem, may in the end outlast the structure they were designed to consolidate. To this supreme builder of mythical bridges-this Pontzfex Maxzmus -we owe the flights of angel fancy in the Phaedrus and the sublime simile of the cave in the Republic. Thus, to be complete, a history of philosophy and even of science should begin with an account of mythology. The v vi MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF FIRE importance of myths as documents of human thought in the embryo is now generally recognized, and they are collected and compared, no longer for the sake of idle entertainment, but for the light they throw on the intellectual evolution of our species. In that work of collection and comparison much remains to be done before all the myths of the world can be classified and arranged in a Corpus Mythorum, in which, as in a museum, these fossils of the mind can be exhibited to illustrate an early stage in the progress of thought from its lowly beginnings to heights as yet unknown With my other writings I offer this essay as a contribution to that great palaeontology of the human mind which remains to be written. J. G. FRAZER. 8th December 1929. CONTENTS PJ\Cil PREFACE. v CHAP• I. INTRODUCTORY II. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN TASMANIA 3 III. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN AUSTRALIA 5 IV. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN THE TORRES STRAITS ISLANDS AND KEW GUINEA 25 V. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN MELANESIA 48 VI. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN POLYNESIA AND MICRONESIA • 55 VII. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN INDONESIA 93 VIII. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN ASIA IOO IX. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN MADAGASCAR 108 X. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN AFRICA I I I XI. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN SOUTH AMERICA I23 XII. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN CENTRAL AMERICA AND MEXICO I36 XIII. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN NORTH AMERICA 139 XIV. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN EUROPE • 190 XV. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN ANCIENT GREECE 193 XVI. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE IN ANCIENT INDIA • 198 XVII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 201 INDEX 227 vii INDEX Achomawi Indians, their myth of the Apaches, the Jicarilla, how they got fire origin of fire, 155 sq. from the fireflies, 140 sqq., 208 Adder, the deaf, original owner of fire, Apapocuva Indians get fire from vul- 8 sq., 207 tures, 127 sq. Admiralty Islands, myth of the origin of Ape makes fire, ros fire in, 48, 213 Apollo, Wolfish, at Argos, 196 Aeschylus on the period of Prometheus's Apparatus for making fire, r61, 165, 188 sufferings, 193 Arani, 220 Africa, myths of the origin of fire in, II 1- Arawak tribes of British Guiana, 132 122 ; fire-drill in, 218; the fire-plough Arekuna Indians steal fire from bird, in, 223 130 sq., 208 Age, the Fireless, 201, 202 sq. Argives, their story of the discovery of of Fire Used, 201, 203-217 fire, 195 sq. --of Fire Kindled, 201, 217-226 Argos, sanctuary of Wolfish Apollo at, Ages, the three: 201 rg6 Agni, Vedic fire-god, 196, 198, 199 Arrows, chain of, 180, 181, r82 Agnilzotra, Brahman fire-priest, 220 Arunta, tribe of Central Australia, their Agunua, the Creator or serpent, 5 I story of origin of fire, 21 sq., 207 sq. Aht Indians. See 1\ootka . Asia, myths of the origin of fire in, I00- Ajijeko, an Indian, how he got fire, 107 ; the fire-drill in, 218 132 sq., 13-4 Assam, the Kaga Hills in, 222 Akpan Obassi, son of the Sky God, II9 Atalaga, name of place and of woman, 6z Alabama Indians, their myth of the Atalanga, father of Maui Kijikiji, 67, 68, origin of fire, 149 69, 70. Compare Maui Atalanga, Alaska, 187, 225 Maui Atalonga, Mauiatalaga Albert, Lake, 119 Ataranga, 79 Alcheringa, 21 Athapascan family of Indians, 183, r84, Alligator, why he is tongueless, 134 185 n.' America, the fire-drill in, 2 r 8 ; the Atharvaveda, 199 fire-pl(lugh in, 223 Athena, the workshop of, 193, 194 Central, and Mexico, origin of fire Atlantic Ocean, 147 in, 136-138 Aua Maku, the Fire Maker, 40, 41, 42 --Korth, the origin of fire in, 139-189 Australia, origin of fire in, 5-24; the -- South, myths of the origin of fire in, fire-drill in, 218 123-138 Avebury, Lord, 218 n.1 Analogy of fire-drill to sexual intercourse, Awikenoq, an Indian tribe, their myth 46. 220 of the origin of fire, 167 sq. 1 Andaman Islanders, their myths of the origin of fire, 97-99, 209 Babine Indians, their story of the origin --Islands, 97, 98 of fire, 184 sq., 216 Animals in possession of fire, qo, n6 ; Bacon, Francis, on the first vintage, 2 make war on the sky, 181 ; ignorant of Badu Island, 31, 32, 34, 208 fire, 201 Ba-ila, tribe of K orthern Rhodesia, their and men confused by totemism, 10; myth of the origin of fire, II2 sq., 213 by story-teller, q6; by savages, 216 Bakairi tribe of Brazil, how they got fire Annam, the tlexible fire-saw used in, 222 from Canis vetulus, 129, 208, 2II Aos of Assam, their fire-myth, 105 sq. Bakoa, lord of the sea, 88, 89 227 228 MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF FIRE Bakongo, an African tribe, procure fire Bookoomuri, a legendary folk, 8 from lightning, 117, 204; send jackal Boorong tribe of Victoria, their story of to fetch fire from sun, rr7, 2IO the origin of fire, 20, 207, 209 Bakuba or Bushongo, African tribe, Boring a hole, fire discovered in, n6, 219 their story of the origin of fire, I I4 sq., Borneo, myths of the origin of fire in, 94- 204 96 ; the flexible fire-saw used in, 222 ; Balfour, Henry, 206, 218 n.', 221, 222 the fire-piston in, 222 n.' ; the fire­ Baluba, African tribe, their myth of the plough in, 223 origin of fire, II4 Bow in fire-making, 36, 222 ; in fire-drill, Baluchistan, xo6 I34 Bamboo, fire in, 26, 28 Bow-drill, 151 n.•, 188 thong, fire made by, xo6 Brahman fire-priest, 220 Bamboos, fire made by friction of, 94, Brahmanas, I99 95, I03, 205, 221, 222 sq. Brahmans, their use of the fire-drill, Bandicoot in possession of fire, 7, 207 2I8 n. 1 -- woman and moon man, 9 Brahmaputra, 106 Banyan, fire in the, 77, 79, 224 Branches rubbing against each other, Barclay Sound, I6o fire produced by, 88, I95• 205 sq. Basongo Meno, group of African tribes, Brazil, r26, 128, 129, 130 their story of the discovery of fire, rr6, Bright colouring of fish, 99 219 British Columbia, 159, 166, I67, 168, Bastian, A., 2 n.' 170, r82, 183, 184, r88 Bat brings first fire, 28 ; helps coyote to Brittany, myths of the origin of fire in, steal fire, 140, 214; why he is blear­ 19I sq. sighted and black, 156, 215 Brown, A. R., Professor, 98, 99 n.5 Bear in possession of fire, I83 Brown, Rev. George, 73 n. 1 Bears in possession of fire, 149 Buataranga, a woman or goddess, mother Beaver and Eagle procure fire for the of Maui, 75, 76, 78, 79 people, 170 sqq., 175 sq., I So sq., 182 Buffalo Bull, ISO Belas, evil spirits, art of kindling fire Buin, one of the Solomon Islands, 50 learned from, 96 Bulotu, home of departed spirits in Bent, J. T., quotec\, I95 Tongan myth, 59, 6o Bergdama or Bergdamara, their myth of Bunarong tribe of Victoria, their myth the origin of fire, I II of the origin of fire, r6 sq., 206 Bering Strait, 188, 189 Bund-jil, or Bunjil, Australian Creator, Bhuiyas, jungle tribe of India, use the 17, r8 fire-drill, 22 I Burials of Siberia, their story of the Bilik, fire stolen from, gS, 209.